Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
The Sociolinguistics in Deaf Communities Series continues its detailed exploration of language dynamics among deaf people in the fourth entry, Pinky Extension and Eye Gaze: Language Use in Deaf Communities. This volume's ten meticulously prepared chapters reflect the refinements of research in six major sociolinguistics areas. Rob Hoopes' work, "A Preliminary Examination of Pinky Extension: Suggestions Regarding Its Occurrence, Constraints, and Function," commences Part One: Variation with a sound explanation of this American Sign Language (ASL) phonological characteristic. Part Two: Languages in Contact includes findings by Jean Ann on contact between Taiwanese Sign Language and written Taiwanese.
Priscilla Shannon Gutierrez considers the relationship of educational policy with language and cognition in deaf children in Part Three: Language in Education, and in Part Four: Discourse Analysis, Melanie Metzger discusses eye gaze and pronominal reference in ASL. Part Five: Second-Language Learning presents the single chapter "An Acculturation Model for ASL Learners," by Mike Kemp. Sarah E. Burns defines Irish Sign Language as Ireland's second minority language after Gaelic, in Part Six: Language Attitudes, the final area of concentration in this rigorously researched volume. These studies and the others by the respected scholars featured in Pinky Extension and Eye Gaze make it an outstanding and eminently valuable addition to this series.
Table of Contents
A preliminary examination of pinky extension: suggestions regarding its occurrence, constraints, and function / Rob Hoopes -- What happens in tactile ASL? / Steven Collins and Karen Petronio -- Grammatical constraints on fingerspelled English verb loans in BSL / Rachel Sutton-Spence -- Contact between a sign language and a written language: character signs in Taiwan sign language / Jean Ann -- The relationship of educational policy to language and cognition in deaf children / Priscilla Shannon Gutierrez -- Conversational repairs in ASL / Valerie L. Dively -- Eye gaze and pronominal reference in American sign language / Melanie Metzger -- Spatial mapping and involvement in ASL storytelling / Susan Mather and Elizabeth A. Winston -- An acculturation model for learners of ASL / Mike Kemp -- Irish sign language: Ireland's second minority language / Sarah E. Burns.